To the Frontier of the Mind: Shen Congwen and World Literature

Abstract One of the most original modern Chinese writers, Shen Congwen is best known for his “native‐soil” stories set in his hometown region of West Hunan. There is, however, an international dimension to Shen's literary regionalism in terms of influence and inspiration. More important, if Shen Congwen deserves a fellowship with other prominent writers of local‐color fiction in the realm of world literature, it would be owing less to the regional and social issues he writes about than to the innovative ways he modernizes traditional Chinese aesthetics to push his literary exploration of these issues from the geographical frontier to the frontier of the human psyche. The fact that Shen gives psychologically complex leading roles to rural characters and those from the lower classes of society makes his writing all the more subversive.